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Johnson, of the Ninth, 

By WILLIAM ELLIS. 

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THE PHILOSOPHER PRESS 
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This little tale is reprinted from The Saturday Evening 
Post, and by the publishers acknowledgement is hereby 
made. Copyrighted 1901 by The Curtis Publishing Company. 




















Of this edition of Johnson, of the Ninth, 
one hundred copies were made for 
Mr, W illiam Ellis, for presentation to his friends, 



JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH. 



REDERICK WILSON, private 
secretary to Governor Henry 
Warfield, was at his desk 
rather earlier than usual 
one morning, when the 


door was opened, and what would have 
been to almost any other man a vision of 
loveliness in a well-cut tailor-made gown 
burst upon the scene. But Wilson was 
young, and there was but one vision of 
loveliness for him. That one was miles 
away, and he was, at the moment, reading 
a letter from her, 

For a moment his caller stood in the 
doorway as if half expecting to be ordered 
out, A charming woman often has the 
trick of assuming the impossible, This 
woman was a distinguished member of the 
third house, and the Legislature was in 
session, 


2 JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 

She had plenty of money, and went 
into politics for the enjoyment of it, so she 
said, Her efforts, for the most part, had 
been devoted to lobbying earnestly for 
several utterly impossible bills which 
were ostensibly intended to ameliorate 
the condition of womankind in varying 
degrees of misfortune. 

She approached Wilson with a general 
bearing which was welhnigh irresistible. 
But Wilson was fortified with the photograph 
of a very plain and ordinary face and an 
accumulation of letters in a very cramped 
and schoolgirlish hand, which meant to him 
everything in the way of womanhood which 
Miss Ellsworth did not — and that was very 
much. 

“Good morning, Mr, Wilson," said 
Miss Ellsworth, and her voice bore out the 
general impression of her manner. "I 
hope I do not come too early?" 

"Not at all, Miss Ellsworth," replied 
Wilson pleasantly, as he laid his letter aside, 
inwardly hoping she would depart early. 


JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 3 

"Mr, Wilson, can you tell me anything 
about House File 226 A? That's my bill, 
you know, to make these large storekeepers 
furnish seats for the women they employ, I 
got it through the committee, and it passed 
the House, and now it's lost somewhere 
between the House and the Senate, It 
hasn't got in here by mistake, has it?” 

"I haven't seen anything of it, Miss 
Ellsworth,” replied Wilson; "but as soon as 
the bill clerk comes in I 'll have him look it 
up, I think you will be more likely to find 
that it's mislaid in the engrossing-room, 
won't you?” 

"Oh, I've been there, and everywhere. 
My! but it's a lot of work getting a bill 
through the Legislature, isn't it? How is 
the Governor coming on with his fight on 
the railroad repeal bill? I hear he's having 
quite a time over it,” 

"Oh, I think he'll come out all right on 
it,” said Wilson in a non-committal sort of 
tone. He knew that up to within a day or 
two, certain defeat had stared the Governor 


4 JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 

in the face, and that even now he was by 
no means certain that he could hold in line 
the votes he had secured on the committee, 
Suddenly the whole manner of Miss 
Ellsworth changed, She leaned forward in 
her chair just a little to give more force to 
her words, and in a quiet, strong tone, so 
different from the light, vivacious manner 
which usually characterized her that Wilson 
was impressed with her earnestness, she saidi 
"Well, he won't, You tell him when 
he comes in that I know he is beaten on 
that repeal bill, and beaten by a trick he 
can never discover until it is too late, I 
can pull him through, and I want to do it 
— not for him, but for myself, Please tell 
him I should like to see him, and that he 
can send for me any time to-day if he 
wants to, I shall be either at the hotel or 
within call all day, Good-morning," 

And before Wilson could recover from 
his astonishment enough to wish her a 
good-'day, the door had closed behind her, 
and she was gone. 


JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 5 

For an instant Wilson was dazed. It 
was like Galatea come to life. He had 
suspected from the first that Miss Ellsworth 
was at the capitol in the railroad lobby) and 
now she had shown her hand — the last 
thing he could have anticipated. 

The private secretary of a Governor 
very soon becomes calloused, and eventually 
petrified — that is, if he serves out the term 
of his appointment. Wise people know 
that the secretary is the buffer which is 
designed to protect the Governor, and so 
they first make the secretary understand 
the full importance of their business with 
the executive. In this way the Governor 
experiences the greater share of his thrills 
of excitement vicariously, and the sec-' 
retary soon becomes as sensitive to spiritual 
impulse as a phonograph, But this time 
Wilson was stirred, While he was 
debating whether he would better go at 
once to the Governor with the information, 
or wait till he came to the capitol, he heard 
the door of the executive chamber open 


6 JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 

and close, indicating the arrival of 
Governor Warfield. 

Wilson immediately sought the Gov^ 
ernor. "Governor," he began abruptly," I 
have had a call this morning from Miss 
Ellsworth." 

"Rather early for society, isn't it 
Wilson?" replied Warfield, smiling. 

"It was none too early for this call I 
imagine" rejoined Wilson, "She says you 
are beaten on the repeal bill unless she 
pulls you through, and she wants to help." 

The Governor looked out of the 
window a moment, “What does she know 
about it?" he asked as he turned to 
Wilson, 

"I don't knowj but she says she wants 
to talk to you," 

"Wilson," and the Governor was in an 
earnest mood, "I shouldn't wonder if she's 
right. There is a nigger in the woodpile 
somewhere on that committe, I have 
been working for a week on the theory 
that something was wrong, but I haven't 


JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 7 

been able to find it, I'll see her, anyway, 
Have her over here at ten o'clock," 

Promptly on the hour Miss Ellsworth 
made her appearance at the capitol and was 
ushered into the presence of the Governor, 
“Good^morning, Miss Ellsworth," said 
the Governor pleasantly, as he stepped 
forward to greet her, "Mr, Wilson tells me 
that you have something to talk over with 
us in connection with the railroad bill?” 

"I should prefer to talk it over with you 
alone, Governor," she said, and as she said 
it she looked him squarely in the eye, 
Something in her glance spoke eloquently of 
her sincerity, and, though there was a faint 
suspicion in his mind of the possibility of a 
trick, he turned to Wilson and dismissed 
him, 

When the door closed behind Wilson 
Governor Warfield motioned his caller to a 
seat, and said with careful distinctness! 
"Please be seated, Mrs, Vandenburg," 
As he spoke the name she started but 
she had such complete possession of herself 


8 JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 

that her perfect poise was disturbed only 
for an instant 

"I am glad you know," she said; “it 
saves such an awkward explanation," 

“When there is as close a fight on 
hand as we have," returned the Governor 
quietly, “it is well to know all we can," 
“Yet I am sure," said Mrs, Vanden-' 
burg, “that the one thing that it is vital 
you should know you do not know. 
However, you are not here to answer 
questions, and I shall not ask you, At the 
risk of having you tell me that you knew 
it all the time, I shall simply tell you what 
I came to tell you, You are counting on 
one vote which, at the last moment, will 
change to the other side." 

It was the Governor's turn now to 
start. Here was the thing he had been 
afraid off now the fear was being reduced 
to certainty, “Well?" he said, as he waited 
for her to continue, 

“I can put it in your power to stop it," 
she said quietly, “and I desire to do so 


JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 9 

upon only one condition. That is that you 
save the man," 

"You mean from criminal prose/ 
cution?" asked Warfield. 

"Yes," she answered, and she knew 
how hopeless it was to attempt to save a 
wrongdoer through Henry Warfield. 
But to her this was all/important, " The fact 
is,” she continued, trying to conceal her 
feeling, "that he has been misled) that he 
would give the world to be out of it, and 
that so far, he has not touched a cent of the 
money that has been paid him. He will 
gladly give up the money, but he lacks the 
moral courage to do it by himself. Isn’t it 
better to save him while he can be saved 
than to make a criminal of him/” 

Warfield was conscious that the woman 
was making the only plea that could touch 
him. He also realized that he was being 
honestly and fairly outgeneralled, 

"If the bribery can be frustrated, I shall 
be glad to become a party to doing it,” he 
said after a moment's pause, "but if it has 


10 JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 

been consummated I will undertake to see 
that it is punished," 

“Then I have your word that if the 
money has not been touched, and the man 
is ready to give it up, and is ready to vote 
against the repeal, no one shall ever know 
from you that he took the money?" 

“Not from me," repeated the Governor, 
and for the first time in his political career 
he had assented to terms dictated by some 
one else, 

“Then," said Mrs, Vandenburg," “I 
shall rely on your word and give you the 
information, Albert Johnson will cast his 
vote in the committee for and not against 
the repeal of the bill. If the bill is reported 
for repeal, you cannot save it on the floor," 
The Governor knew that was true, 
He knew the fight must be won or lost in 
the committee, 

“May I suggest a plan for bringing 
this about?" she ask, as she watched the 
effect of her information upon Warfield, 

“I should be very glad to have your 


JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 11 

suggestion," said the Governor, who was 
coming to have some repect for the politic 
cal sagacity of this woman lobbyist, 

"He was paid five thousand dollars," 
said Mrs, Vandenburg, and the calm and 
businesslike manner in which she spoke of 
the transaction made Warfield shudder 
slightly, "and that money is now in a 
safety-'deposit box in Chicago, There are 
two keys to the box, and both are required 
to open it, Here is one of them," and she 
walked over and handed it to the Governor, 
" and he has the other, W ith one key in your 
possession you ought to be able to get the 
other, If you have both keys, that amounts 
to possession of the money, I know he will 
be glad to give up the other key," 

The Governor was so amazed that he 
hardly noticed that she had turned to go. 
She stopped, half-hesitating, but apparently 
determined to say something she dreaded 
to say, 

"Governor," she began, and her tone 
had lost the self-assurance and the cold 


12 JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 

calm which had characterized it — the 
lobbyist was disappearing and the woman 
was coming to the surface, "I want to say 
just one or two things more, I don't want 
you to judge me either too harshly or too 
generously. No woman ought to live in 
the atmosphere of this sort of thing. No 
one knows that better than I do, If every 
woman that chafes at the restraints of 
womanhood could know what freedom costs, 
she would hesitate at the door which leads 
out into the wider liberties. But I do not 
want you give me credit for any moral 
revulsion which I do not feel, What I 
have done this morning has been done 
only because it is the most complete 
revenge I can have for the deepest wrong a 
man can do his wife — the only reason I 
want to save Johnson is because he is a 
weak man who has fallen into the hands 
of one of the most unscrupulous villains 
that ever lived — I refer now to my 
husband, Major Vandenburg," And with 
that she bowed and passed out, 


JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 13 

The thing that impressed Warfield 
most was a feeling of gratitude that she had 
not cried, He had an idea that all women 
cried when they felt deeply. As he 
thought it all over he was almost sorry that 
she had notj it would have seemed more 
womanly. But he had time to give only a 
passing thought to that. The Committee 
on Railroads was to vote on the repeal bill the 
next morning, and he knew that every 
moment and every energy must be given 
to the direction of that fight. 

All day there was clearly something 
in the air in the vicinity of the executive 
chamber. Messengers were hurried hither 
and thither \ the telephone and telegraph 
were kept busy. Every man in the State 
who could bring any pressure to bear on 
the members of the committee to bring 
them into line or to keep them in line was 
brought to bear on the play. Like a vast 
chess game? with the counties of the state 
for squares, the opposing forces were bring- 1 
ing all their resources to bear on the king-- 


14 JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 

square, when, all unexpected and unfore^ 
seen, a little queen's pawn had moved up 
and uncovered a check that had not been 
anticipated. The Governor decided to wait 
till evening for the final move. 

The early part of the evening was 
devoted to a conferance of the leaders of the 
opposition to the repeal bill, which was held 
in the executive chamber. The line up of 
the committee indicated a report against the 
passage of the bill, and the leaders of the 
fight were in good humor over the near 
approach of hard^won victory. There were 
two, however, who did not enter very 
heartily into the spirit of the hour, these 
two were the Governor himself and Mr, 
Albert Johnson, member from the Ninth 
District, and Chairman of the Committee on 
Railroads, 

The Governor intimated to his friends 
that he had some business matters to take 
up, and the conference dispersed early. As 
they started to go Warfield called Johnson 
aside and asked him to stay a moment after 


JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH IS 

the others had gone. As soon as he and 
Johnson were alone he stepped to the door 
and locked it, putting the key in his pocket, 
This did not escape the observation of Mr, 
Johnson, who began to feel the compress 
sion of the atmosphere which always occurs 
in close quarters, 

"Mr, Johnson," said the governor, by 
way of opening, "have you any engage' 
ments this evening that would preclude your 
accepting an invitation to spend the night 
as my guest?” 

Johnson understood that the sparring 
had begun, and he felt that the longer he 
could stave off the final attack the better it 
would be. So, with as calm an exterior as 
he could command, he replied! 

"Nothing that I think of, Governor, 
But isn't this burst of hospitality, a little 
sudden?" This was added with what was 
intended for a laugh, but did not prove a 
conspicuous success, 

"Well," said the Governor in a tone 
that was a little hard and dry, "it may be 


16 JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 

sudden, but it is cordial," He could not 
feel thoroughly at ease in the presence of a 
man whom he knew had accepted a bribe. 
“I suppose you are quite pleased," he con,- 
tinued, “to find that we have the four votes 
we need on your committee? It takes 
some worry off your mind?" The Govern 
nor began to realize how a sleek, welhfed 
cat feels while she plays with a helpless 
mouse, 

“Yes," replied Johnson, who was feeh 
ing just as the mouse does, “it didn't look, 
for a while, as if we could win out," 

“Well," said Warfield, and there was a 
change in his tone now that even Johnson 
could not mistake, “we not only can win 
out, Mr, Johnson, but we shall win out." 

“Yes," said Johnson, just a shade more 
faintly as the Governor grew stronger 
in tone, “it looks now as if we are all 
right.” 

“There is no question in your mind, 
is there, Johnson, about having the four 
votes we need?" 


JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 17 

“Not if you are sure of the vote you 
secured yesterday," 

"Oh, that vote is all right," replied the 
Governor, “But you and I know some< 
thing that none of the others know, 
Johnson, As you and I sit here at this 
moment we both know that with the vote 
I secured yesterday we have only three 
votes. You and I will have to make it our 
business to-night to get the fourth vote, 
Do you think we can get it?" 

“Why, you can count on me for any'' 
thing I can do," said Johnson with an 
admirable assumption of innocence, “But 
I don't understand what you mean, I 
thought you said we had four votes," 

“Do you think we. have?" 

“We have had three all the time, 
haven't we? And you say you got am 
other one in line yesterday. That makes 
four, doesn't it?" 

“Your mathematics are all right, Johm 
son," said the Governor with a smile that 
was lacking in warmth, “but I am afraid 


18 JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 

your facts are wrong, Johnson" — the 
Governor turned suddenly upon his visitor 
and spoke with force and some vigor, a 
trick he had learned in cross exmination 
— "give me the key to that safety /deposit 
box," 

Johnson started, just on the instant, as 
as if a surgeon operating upon him had let a 
knife slip and hurt him where he had 
not expected to be hurt, 

"Key to what safety/deposit box?" he 
asked with all the self/possession he could 
command, 

“Box number three hundred and 
thirty/two in the Kenmore vaults," said the 
Governor quietly and firmly, 

"See here, Warfield,' 'said Johnson 
with a sudden show of fight in his manner, 
"what sort of a bluff are you trying to 
work on me? you call me in here with you 
alone, you lock the door and take the key 
out of it and put it in your pocket, and then 
you begin to talk mysteriously about votes 
and safety/deposit boxes, and of course 


JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 19 

there's only one inference to be drawn 
from it all, Now, that sort of thing won't 
go with me; not one bit. If you have any 
charges to make against me, this isn't the 
way to go about it, You open that door 
and let me go, I don't propose to submit 
to any such high-handed proceedings as 
this, It has passed the point of fun," 

H So you object to having the door 
locked? You consider it a restriction of 
your freedom? Why, Johnson, that door is 
locked for your protection. Outside the 
door is a man who has a warrant in his 
pocket charging John Doe with the crime 
of bribery, and he has instructions to serve 
it on the first man who crosses that 
threshold before me, Here is the key to 
the door) go out if you want to," 

And as Warfield reached out his hand 
in which was the key to the door, Johnson, 
of the Ninth, the Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Railroads, a leader in the House, 
sank, pale and trembling and exhausted, into 
a chair, while great drops of sweat stood 


20 JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 

out upon his forehead, So this, then, was 
the end of it all. 

For a few moments — it seemed like 
years — Warfield stood, silent and fixed. 
Then he spoke, It was almost as a father, 
speaking to an erring boy, 

"Johnson," he said, and his voice was 
mellowed with feeling, "sit up, man, and 
let us talk it all over, I know that money 
was paid over to you in Chicago; I know 
that it was put in the safety-deposit vaults, 
It was too great a chance to take, but you 
took it, and you lost, Now I will tell you 
what to do. You have made a great 
mistake, but no one has suffered from it 
but you. No wrong has been done except 
to your own self-respect, It is not too late 
now to correct the wrong, In the first 
place, don't you think you'd better give me 
that key?" The Governor's request for the 
key now was as kind and tender as it had 
before been harsh and defiant, and Johnson 
reached into an inner pocket, took it out 
and handed it to the Governor without so 


JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 21 

much as looking up, Warfield put it into 
his pocket with its mate, relieved that he 
had not been forced to expose the fact that 
he had the other, 

"Now," the Governor resumed, "you 
have, so far as you can up to to this time, 
purged yourself of the bribery, So far as 
you are concerned you are through with 
the money. Now, under no financial or 
political obligation to any one, and as a free 
man, go into your committee to-morrow 
and vote as your conscience dictates. You 
know as well as I what effort will be made 
to-night to find you and keep you in line, 
If you want to go, you may go now with 
perfect safety, You will not be molested in 
any way, But if you desire to accept my 
hospitality for the night I shall be glad to 
have you do so," 

For a moment after the Governor 
ceased speaking Johnson sat in the attitude 
of dejection and despair into which he had 
fallen when the fact that he had been dis^ 
covered had first overwhelmed him. When 


22 JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 

he did rouse up it was with a face that had 
been blanched in the agony of those few 
moments, and the voice with which he 
replied to Warfield was emptied of all the 
spirit of a man. He was a pitiable thing 
as he sat there, 

"Warfield," he said, "there is only one 
feeling in my heart at this moment, I am 
glad you have saved me, I shall never be 
able to look the world in the face again, 
and it doesn't seem now as if I could ever 
get far enough away from it all to live again, 
But you have done for me what I have 
been trying to do for weeks, I got into it, 
and I am a thief, and worse than a — " 
And here he broke down completely, and 
sobbed as only a strong man, broken, can 
sob, 

Warfield made no attempt to stay the 
burst of sorrow which had overcome him. 
When he spoke, it was still gently and kindly, 

"Johnson," he said after a pause, "no 
one knows anything of this but you and me 
and those who are in it with you, 


JOHNSON OF THE NINTH 23 

Vandenburg won't be apt to say anything; 
he has some troubles of his own to look 
after. I say to you, live out of and above 
this thing, and be the man you can. And 
so long as you want to you can not only 
have my help, but you can have my full 
confidence, I don't think a man will put 
his hand into the same fire twice. And 
above all things, understand that I am not 
attempting to coerce your vote to-morrow; 
but you are now freed from the necessity 
of voting for a price," 

“Warfield," said Johnson with deep 
earnestness, “now that I have that load off 
my mind I want to be perfectly square 
with you. That key won't unlock the 
safety 'deposit box. It takes two," 

“Where is the other one?" asked the 
Governor quietly, 

“I can't tell you/' replied Johnson, 
And he turned his head to avoid the search/ 
ing glance Warfield gave him, 

“Why not?" asked Warfield with quiet 
persistence, 


24 JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 

"A woman has it, A woman who is 
too good to be mixed up in this kind of 
business," 

"Do you mean Mrs, Vandenburg?" 
asked the Governor in a low, strong tone, 
"How did you know?" cried Johnson, 
now thoroughly aroused, 

"Well, she hasn't got the key," said 
Warfield? "here it is," 

Johnson was overwhelmed as he saw 
the two keys in Warfield's hand, 

"Warfield," he cried, "no harm is 
coming to her? She's my sister, Warfield 
— do anything you like with me — but save 
her — she's had nothing to do with it — " 
"No," interrupted the Governor, " this 
is a case in which we have prevented 
crime, and you owe it to her that you are 
not to-night a felon instead of a penitent, 
Vandenburg is the only one we are after, 
and I guess the railroads and his wife can 
take care of him without the aid of the law, 
Now let's go home and get some rest," 

And together they passed out of the 


JOHNSON OF THE NINTH 25 

executive chamber, the Governor considers 
ately walking out ahead of his guest, 

When the report of the Committee on 
Railroads on House File No, 6 was read 
at the opening of the session the next 
afternoon, the enthusiastic applause, which 
was promptly suppressed by the sergeant- 
oharms, was started in the gallery by a 
woman whose face beamed with pride 
in her brother, 

When the report had been adopted and 
the motion to reconsider had been defeated, 
she went at once to the Major, who was in 
his rooms at the hotel, surrounded by 
uncorked bottles of various essential oils 
popularly supposed to be efficacious in 
quieting the troubled waves of the political 
sea, He was gnashing his teeth in rage at 
the perfidy of Johnson, who had been let in 
on a good thing wholly through the good-- 
ness of the Major himself, 

"Well,” she said as she entered, "I kept 
Albert's vote in line for you on the com- 1 
mittee, as you may have noticed," 


26 JOHNSON, OF THE NINTH 

Before Vandenburg could reply the 
long-distance telephone rang, and the gen- 
eral counsel for the Boundary and Gulf 
Air Line made some inquiries, in a rather 
crisp tone, as to what had become of this 
man Johnson, in whom they supposed they 
had made a considerable investment, 

"He switched on me," was all the ex- 
planation Vandenburg could give, 

"Well, your salary stopped at 10sl5 this 
morning," replied the general counsel as he 
hung up the telephone, That was the hour 
at which the vote of Johnson in the com- 
mittee had killed the bill. 

About a week later Warfield went to 
Chicago on a little matter of private busi- 
ness, and the next day the Asylum for 
Foundlings and Indigent Orphans was 
thrown into a corporate spasm by the 
receipt of a package containing five thou- 
sand dollars in bills. To this day the 
directors do not know where it came from. 





















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